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*Probably one of the most important video interviews you'll watch this year* *US Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson* being interviewed by Abby Martin. Retired Col. Wilkerson speaks out about the decline of the American Empire and the runaway military industrial complex that is behind this decline. Thanks to Aangirfan for this link.

Military personnel stand on deck of the Izumo helicopter carrier of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) during its fleet review at Sagami Bay, off Yokosuka, south of Tokyo in this October 15, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/Files *Reuters:* *Exclusive: Japan's far-flung island defense plan seeks to turn tables on China* Japan is fortifying its far-flung island chain in the East China Sea under an evolving strategy that aims to turn the tables on China's navy and keep it from ever dominating the Western Pacific Ocean, Japanese military and government sources said...more »

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and family Florida's new east/west 5th congressional district takes in most of Tallahassee and Jacksonville and was thought to be a decent district for Corrine Brown, who currently represents one of the most egregiously gerrymandered districts in the U.S.-- still-named FL-05, which snakes along Route 17 from the African-American neighborhoods of Jacksonville to Palatka, then turns due west to the African-America neighborhoods of Gainesville before heading south again into the African-American neighborhoods in and around Orlando. The new district is 45%...more »

“This beautiful, bright, spiral galaxy is Messier 64, often called the Black Eye Galaxy or the Sleeping Beauty Galaxy for its heavy-lidded appearance in telescopic views. M64 is about 17 million light-years distant in the otherwise well-groomed northern constellation Coma Berenices. In fact, the Red Eye Galaxy might also be an appropriate moniker in this colorful composition of narrow and wideband images. *Click image for larger size.* The enormous dust clouds obscuring the near-side of M64's central region are laced with the telltale reddish glow of hydrogen associated with star fo...more »

"It would be so much easier just to fold our hands and not make this fight... to say, I, one man, I can do nothing. I grow afraid only when I see people thinking and acting like this. We all know the story about the man who sat beside the trail too long, and then it grew over and he could never find his way again. We can never forget what has happened, but we cannot go back nor can we just sit beside the trail". - Poundmaker, Plains Cree Chief, 1842-1886. His dying words.

B-52 Stratofortress. Boeing *Business Insider:* *The US accidentally flew a B-52 bomber over territory claimed by China* Last week, a US B-52 bomber accidentally flew over Chinese-claimed territory in the South China Sea, The Wall Street Journal reports. During the fly over, which was part of routine US missions in the region, one of the bombers accidentally flew within 2 nautical miles of the Cuarteron Reef, which China has been artificially expanding. The incident led the Chinese to file a formal complaint with the US through the US Embassy. *Update #1:* U.S. Bomber Flies Ove...more »

*The Guardian:* *Secret US mission in Libya revealed after air force posted pictures* *Facebook post, accompanied by four pictures, said 20 armed soldiers arrived wearing bulletproof jackets.* A secret US commando mission to Libya has been revealed after photographs of a special forces unit were posted on the Facebook page of the country’s air force. Libya’s air force said 20 US soldiers arrived at Libya’s Wattiya airbase on Monday, but left soon after local commanders asked them to go because they had no permission to be at the base. It was unclear if another branch of the Liby...more »

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are seen during the battle with Islamic State militants on the outskirts of Mosul January 21, 2015. Kurdish forces in northern Iraq said on Wednesday they had cleared Islamic State insurgents from nearly 500 square kilometres of territory and broken a key IS supply line between the city of Mosul and strongholds to the west near Syria. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari *Radio Free Europe*: *U.S. To Provide Arms Soon To Iraqi Kurds To Fight IS* U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited Irbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, December 17 as part of a we...more »

The new Gallup poll that asks how satisfied respondents are with Congress found that just 17% of Democrats and 15% of Republicans approved the job Congress is doing. It's been a long slide since 2001 when a narrow majority of Americans actually thought Congress was doing a decent job. "In the past, " writes Gallup's Jeff Jones, "partisans may have been happy just to have their party in control of Congress, but now it appears Republicans take little solace in their party's majority status if it does not produce results in the form of passing legislation they favor. Republicans' poor...more »

On A1 of the Irving press, the headline is that the New Brunswick Liberals are 'scaling back' on their promises of spending. Of course. Now, tell me. What have the provincial Liberals done that the provincial Conservatives would not have done? And when are New Brunswickers going to learn that their Liberals and Conservatives are the same party? On A5, a coalition of industry groups warns the provincial government that if it raises business taxes, they “..will negatively impact on our ability to create the best possible conditions for job creation...” (We'll pass lightly over the pre...more »

*Interior of a Buddhist temple near my house.* This is from The Nelson Report of 12/18. Note the last paragraph, which is makes the same argument that I always do: "tension" is how Beijing manages the Washington-Taipei relationship and the Washington-Beijing relationship. The international media, which reports constantly on "tension" but never describes its political function, serves Beijing in that way. This form of soft power, in which Beijing's claims about its own history or tension or its behavior are presented without analysis or comment in the international media -- sometime...more »

From *Wikipedia*: During the Second World War, Captain Lee Mitchell (Stuart Whitman) and a group of British commandos attempt to locate and kidnap the leading German rocket scientist Dr. Von Heinken (Pinkas Braun). Along the way they are chased by SS and Soviet forces who were also after him.

Diane Ravitch was a staunch supporter of the rewrite of ESEA until it was passed. Ever since last April, Ravitch and various neoliberal groups that she fronts for have maintained a steady stream of enthused propaganda about the ESEA rewrite. Now that the status quo of testing, privatization, and segregation has been guaranteed for another few years with the rewrite that she supported, Ravitch seems to have suddenly seen the light: The Every Student Succeeds Act shifts much–though not all–of the responsibity [*sic*] for testing and accountability to the states. States have more f...more »

I've had Paul Davis Op-ed's here previously. Below is another one. *Is there a coming fight for Mosul?* *The answer is: Yes* *While the Iranian backed Shia militias are working with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) to push ISIS out of Ramadi* ..*..( Coincidentally the US "inadvertently" killed Iraqi soldiers" )** little has been said about the liberation of Mosul. * Kurdish presidential Chief of Staff Fuad Hussein recently announced an* upcoming meeting between the Kurdistan Regional government, Turkey and the United States to discuss strategy in the fight against ISIS. It is inter...more »

*Inadvertently. Of course.* Varying reports- As many as 30 killed. Some reports of 20. Below claims 10. What is interesting is these Iraqi soldiers were making targeting *ISIS*... The U.S. military said it is investigating an American airstrike that may have inadvertently killed Iraqi soldiers near the city of Fallujah. *It said the airstrikes were done in coordination with Iraqi forces.* It said the U.S. will investigate what happened and has invited the Iraqis to participate. When asked how many Iraqis may have been killed, the U.S. military command known as Combined Joint Task Fo...more »

[image: ddscho07.JPG] *A teacher prepares an elementary school class for an outing.* Longtime US government Taiwan expert Richard Bush's latest paper from Brookings is insightful, informed, knowledgeable and well written: perfect for 2007. I'm not going to bother to fisk the whole thing, since it constructs understandings and assumptions about the future and the strategic situation that are out of date, but one claim in this paper caught my eye: The public has apparently preferred the KMT’s approach to China (economic engagement) over that of the DPP, about 55 percent to 45 percent ...more »

*Ehsan M. Ahrari, Small Wars Journal:* *The Coming Anarchy in the Levant* With the passage of each day, the Levant increasingly appears a place where anarchy might be the only order of the day unless a number of anti-ISIS actors come up with some plan to destroy that entity and save the region. President Barack Obama’s pragmatism and his fetish for not repeating the ‘mistake’ of ousting Muammar Qaddafi brutal regime in Libya has not only guaranteed Russia’s presence in Syria, but also its influential participation in the future stability of Syria and Iraq. An important side-payoff...more »

[image: persecution] A state court in Massachusetts has ruled that a Catholic preparatory school violated the state's antidiscrimination law when it rescinded a job offer to a man because he was married to another man. Matthew Barrett had accepted a job as... Continue reading *“Bad News for Religious Liberty: Court Rules Christian School Has to Hire Man in Gay “Marriage””* at *nationalreview.com*.

[image: WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 09: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses a rally against the Iran nuclear deal on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol September 9, 2015 in Washington, DC. Thousands of people gathered for the rally, organized by the Tea Party Patriots, which featured conservative pundits and politicians.] If there’s any lesson from Tuesday’s debate, it’s that six months after his entry into the Republican presidential race, no one has any better idea of how to handle Donald Trump than when he first got in. Las Vegas highlighted...more »

[image: Rabbis - 400] A group of prominent Orthodox rabbis in Israel, the United States and Europe have issued a historic public statement affirming that Christianity is "the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations" and urging Jews and Christians to "work together... Continue reading *“Orthodox Rabbis Issue Groundbreaking Declaration Affirming ‘Partnership’ with Christianity”* at *breitbart.com*.

*Pao L. Chang* - The Orbo PowerCube can supposedly generate energy without using any fuel or conventional electricity. The post The Orbo PowerCube ‘Free Energy’ Charger is Available for Pre-Order appeared first on Waking Times.

A group of US special forces on a secret mission against the Islamic State (ISIS) arrived at Libya’s Wattiya airbase on Monday, startling the local commanders who were not expecting them. Twenty commandos, armed with assault rifles and bullet proof vests had their top secret mission compromised when their unit’s photo appeared on Facebook. The special forces unit dispersed out of the Libyan airbase, after local commanders questioned their presence in the war torn country, and the Libyan air force posted their pictures on Facebook. The Daily Express reports: Wattiya’s proximity to Sa...more »

*New York Times*: *U.N. Security Council Approves Resolution on Syria Talks* UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved on Friday a resolution calling for a cease-fire and political talks to help end the civil war in Syria. The measure, adopted 15-0, is the first time that Russia and the United States, who have been at loggerheads over the future of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, agreed on a road map for a political process. The resolution makes no mention of whether or not Mr. Assad would be able to run for office in new elections, which it say...more »

[image: stock market - 400] U.S. stocks dropped sharply on Friday, sending the Dow industrials to their lowest close since October, as a rally spurred by the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates faded and oil prices tumbled anew. The blue-chip index dropped 367.39... Continue reading *“Stocks End the Week with a Skid”* at *wsj.com*.

*RT:* *VIDEO emerges purporting to show deadly US airstrike against Iraqi forces* An unverified video, which allegedly shows a deadly air-strike by the US Air Force against Iraqi government troops, has emerged. The unconfirmed footage was obtained from a local source in Iraq by RT’s Ruptly video agency. A high-ranking Iraqi MP told Sputnik news agency earlier that over 30 Iraqi soldiers had been killed and 20 injured in an air-strike carried out by the US military. *Previous Post:* Iraq Government Claim: 30 Iraqi Soldiers Killed In US Air Force Strike, 20 Others Injured *More N...more »

*“Not Known, Because Not Looked For”* by Chet Raymo Tony shared with us the other day these well-known lines of T. S. Eliot (“Little Gidding”): "We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time." It is not quite what Eliot is up to, but I was reminded of some lines of Pascal that I shared here several years ago: “Scientific learning is composed of two opposites which nonetheless meet each other. The first is the natural ignorance that is man's lot at birth. The second is repr...more »

"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. Pain is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust ...more »

"The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity — even under the most difficult circumstances — to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his s...more »

*"The Episcopalian's Guide to Airport Security"* by Bill Bonner "It is warm in Paris. But rainy and dark. We have come into the Café Poussin for coffee… And for a little morning cheer. *Inside Café Poussin…* We watch the people come and go… we listen to the friendly banter with the bartender… we read the news. Yesterday, the U.S. stock market wiped out Wednesday’s gains. The Dow dropped 253 points – or about 1.5%. Thinking it over, investors must have decided that Janet Yellen’s rate hike was not such good news after all. “New era starts as reverse repurchase drains $105 billion ...more »

Interesting news re Kuwait Airways 'Kuwait hates Jews so much that its national airline has ditched a popular and lucrative New York-to-London flight rather than allow Israelis on its planes, authorities said Thursday. Kuwait Airways killed the flight to spite American officials, who threatened to pull the airline's permit to fly to the United States if they continued discriminating against Israeli passengers.' You can read more here http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/12/kuwait-airways-cancels-ny-to-london-flight-rather-than-allow-israeli-passengers but not on the institutionally an...more »

*Syrian Regime Change Attempt to Frame* *al Assad Blows up in NATO's face* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ETQFsKwJzw#t=13 Someone is trying to rewrite history. They're trying to *cover up the effort of the US/NATO to frame Assad in 2013...* and thus cause regime change in Syria...so the cabal could put their Muslim Brotherhood puppet in place. The BBC was spearheading the frame-up but now.... *Someone is Scrubbing the Internet* There was an excellent *RT report on the BBC's effort to frame Assad *with false allegations of gassing his own people (a standard method of getting ri...more »

*CBC:* *Canadian forces strike back against ISIS offensive in northern Iraq* No Canadian casualties reported after involvement in responding to lengthy ISIS offensive A contingent of Canada's elite commandos were thrown into a day-long battle alongside Kurdish Peshmerga fighters as the Islamic State launched its biggest offensive in Iraq since western troops arrived in the region 18 months ago. A three-pronged assault, involving hundreds of extremists, took place along a wide front in the sector, northwest of the Kurdish capital of Irbil, where Canadian special forces have been t...more »

As we've reported before, when low-life price gouger and hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli tried to contribute to Bernie's campaign, Bernie very publicly rejected his contribution and turned it over to charity. Chuck Schumer and Jon Tester on the other hand, couldn't wait to get their clammy paws on some of Shkreli's blood money. Now that America's most hated twerp has been arrested by the FBI-- and faces as much as 20 years in prison-- will the DSCC give back the $33,400 he gave them in July? In fact, when he was arrested yesterday, it was for exactly what the was looking to pay ...more »

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing a Syria peace roadmap on Friday. The resolution calls for a ceasefire and political settlement in Syria and envisions the formation of a unity government and calls to immediately cease any attacks on civilian targets. RT reports: The four-page draft demanded that all parties to the Syrian conflict “immediately cease any attacks against civilians,” Reuters reports. A mechanism to monitor, verify and report the truce is to be worked out within a month. The draft resolution would also ask the UN to convene f...more »

In the course of investigating many UFO cases, there are witnesses who come forward to tell their stories. Depending on the nature of the story or the investigator who hears it, that story might be added to the case file or might be rejected. Anne Robbins, widow of T/SGT Ernest Robbins, told her story, or rather her husband’s story after he died in January 2000. It related to Roswell and had all the necessary elements including the late night telephone call, a mysterious trip into the desert and a secret that was reluctantly shared. The story was told at the Odessa Meteor Crater Mus...more »

*Wall Street Journal:* *Islamic State Routed in Iraq Battle, U.S. Officials Say* *Kurdish Peshmerga fighters with coalition air support foil a major offensive by the extremist group* ERBIL, Iraq—Islamic State mounted a major offensive Wednesday, striking multiple sites in northern Iraq, but Kurdish Peshmerga forces backed by U.S. and coalition air support were able to rout the group in a counterattack that left more than 200 Islamic State militants dead, U.S. defense officials said. Using car bombs, suicide bombers, small arms and even bulldozers, Islamic State conducted a surpri...more »

*John Dyer, VICE News:* *Saudi Arabia's New Anti-Terror Coalition Is Already Starting to Fall Apart* Saudi Arabia's coalition of Islamic countries against terrorism is starting to look like a paper tiger. A day after the kingdom announced with great fanfare that it would lead the 34-member alliance, a few of those so-called members announced that they weren't necessarily part of it. "I think it's a blunder on their part," said William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy. "They assumed that if they called the tune other countri...more »

*Gulf News:* *Two ballistic missiles fired at Saudi Arabia from Yemen* Government forces capture second militia-held town in 24 hours. Riyadh, Aden: Two ballistic missiles were fired from Yemen at Saudi Arabia, one of which was intercepted by the kingdom’s air defences, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemeni rebels said Friday. The other missile struck an area of desert east of the Saudi city of Najran, the coalition said in a statement carried by the kingdom’s SPA state news agency, without reporting any casualties. “The leadership of the coalition asserts that while it is commi...more »

[image: One time Use Only - Outbound] SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal judge in San Francisco says he saw no evidence of criminal activity in recordings an anti-abortion group secretly gathered at annual meetings of an abortion providers’ association. U.S. District Judge William Orrick made the...more »

[image: trash - 400] Images such as this appear on the Internet and in the Main Stream Media, alongside of almost every article or report about the pollution of the Earth's oceans with plastics of all kinds. The image is usually associated with the... Continue reading *“Separating Fact from Fiction in Stories about an Ocean of Plastic”* at *wattsupwiththat.com*.

R. *v.* Riesberry, 2015 SCC 65: [23] We should first be clear about what Mr. Riesberry's fraudulent conduct was before turning to the question of whether it caused a risk of deprivation. Fraudulent conduct for the purposes of a fraud prosecution is not limited to deception, such as deception by misrepresentations of fact. Rather, fraud requires proof of "deceit, falsehood or *other fraudulent means*": s. 380(1). The term "other fraudulent means" encompasses "all other means which can properly be stigmatized as dishonest:" *R. v. Olan*, [1978] 2 S.C.R. 1175, ...more »

From the ‘Yes, ICantSeeYou‘ blog comes some of the most funny and profound quotes from the former Republican President George Bush Jr. The Top 50 Most Stupid Bush Quotes •A man lost in his geography: 1-“We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.” George W. Bush 2-“It’s time for the human race to enter the solar system.” George W. Bush 3-“The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.” George W. Bush •A man lost in his logic: 4-” It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the...more »

[image: President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the White House Brady Press Briefing Room in Washington, Friday, Dec. 18, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)] WASHINGTON (AP) Closing out a tumultuous year, President Barack Obama sought to lay the groundwork Friday for his last year in office by vowing not to fade in the background but instead use his remaining months to push longstanding goals...more »

. *.* *By Brenda Norrell* *Censored News, publisher* Today we celebrate the writers and photographers who generously shared their work with Censored News during 2015, and for the past nine years. Native Americans and grassroots activists have shared their heart's songs, and their heart's struggles, here this year, and since 2006. Many of the columns come from those who are living in their homelands. Among these are Debra White Plume, Lakota on Pine Ridge, South Dakota; both Louise Benally and Bahe Katenaay on Big Mountain on the Navajo Nation; Ofelia Rivas, O'odham on Tohono O...more »

*Disclaimer:* At this point in my very long trip home I am feeling rather grumpy….. I missed my 7:00am plane to Boston this morning from New York’s JFK airport. I arrived at JFK about 10:00pm last night (after a 13-hour flight from Shanghai) and was happy that the shuttle bus to my airport hotel only took 5 minutes. I asked for a 5:00am wake up call so I could take the 5:55am shuttle back to the airport. The five minute shuttle ride to the airport this morning took more than 30 minutes (including two missed turns by the driver) and I hustled thru check-in and security but was ...more »

Right now I'm reading *A Call To Arms: Mobilizing America For World War Two* by Maury Klein. I am personally of the opinion that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an asshole. I think he was inordinately self-centred and an incurable elitist and imperialist. I also think he was less racist than the average person (especially from his social set). But I also think he was brilliant and the perfect man for the time. His "New Deal" in the 1930's actually watered-down or circumvented more radical possibilities, but given the fact that the powerful reactionary capitalists were actively organi...more »

*whoa, Bill's royally pissed off.* Since I rarely listen to Glenn Beck anymore, I'll have to take Bill's word for what Beck said about the Tea Party. About the only person I listen to (since we don't have cable, it's radio only for us) is Sean Hannity, not because of anything he may have to say, but because he has great guests. Now, I must be off to shovel a bunch of global warming.

*UDATED: December 18, 2015* The BBC is reporting that the US is admitting that it killed some Iraqi soldiers via "Friendly Fire".... Don't you think...after the *MSF* killings in Afghanistan, the *Tarnak Farm Incident *and the *recent "accidental" killing of Syrian soldiers* last week (among many other sorry episodes)...that the US military should put itself on a "time out" until it can discipline its military to shoot straight? *Press TV interviews US geopolitical analyst* *Mark Dankof regarding* *US foreign policy in the Middle East* *From a Report on the US bombing Iraqi soldiers...more »

An ISIS militant is shown in a video calling for attacks against both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain after the formation of an Islamic military alliance against extremism. ISIS MEDIA *IBTimes:* *ISIS Vows War Against Saudi Arabia: Islamic State Group Threatens Arab Monarchy After Announcement Of Anti-Terror Coalition* The Islamic State group released videos earlier this week calling for attacks against Saudi Arabia and vowing war against the Arab monarchy after it announced the formation of a 34-member Muslim coalition to combat terrorism. In a new execution video, fighters accuse the Sa...more »

UK police chiefs have released a video advising the British public what to do in case of an armed terrorist attack. Following the Paris terror attacks of November 13th, the chiefs of police in the UK have distributed flyers and a video advising the public to be ‘alert’ when they hear gunshots and to cooperate with a police force that may be dressed in camouflage and trigger happy. The people are told to “run, hide and tell” when the shooting starts, while surrendering to the armed police who might not necessarily be able to distinguish between friend and foe. The public are also tol...more »

*Pilsen's Synagogue, second largest in Europe, was built in 1888 and the final decoration was completed in 1893.* I was playing with the interactive map of historical CO2 emissions around the world and it's a lot of fun. There are people who consider CO2 emissions to be correlated with "evil". I simply can't imagine to be one of them; they are absolutely unhinged psychopaths. In the map above, you may change the year from 1750 to 2010 using the slider at the bottom. And you may click individual countries (Britain is the default one) to get detailed information about their emissio...more »

[image: LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 15: Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump (L) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), interact during the CNN republican presidential debate at The Venetian Las Vegas on December 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thirteen Republican presidential candidates are participating in the fifth set of Republican presidential debates.] In December 2011, the candidate who led in the Iowa polls was not Rick Santorum (who ultimately squeaked out a victory there), nor Michelle Bachmann (who had driven Gov. Tim Pawlenty from the race by winning the Iowa straw poll...more »

https://sites.google.com/site/susansharpsongs//home/sheet-music-1/suantrai The beautiful music and sentiments generated by people inspired by Christianity are wonderful to behold. A non-religious person like me can still be bowled over by them. This is a good time of year to note that while so many people take a break from their routine to have joyful celebrations.

Lucas Hixon of Enformable has a very interesting article up concerning his efforts with David Lochbaum to obtain through freedom of information access requests NRC records from the earliest days of the disaster. The latest document to be released that I've seen is dated March 18 and is available here: http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1212/ML12122A949.pdf The document indicates that the NRC was asked to come up with source terms for Fukushima in order to predict the radiation dose to exposed US populations. While making that prediction, the NRC assessed that: 1) 25% of the total fuel ...more »

The Black Box of the Su-24 Russian jet bomber that was shot down by Turkey over Syria has been opened by Russia’s Defense Ministry, and it looks to be damaged, making it hard to establish the facts surrounding last month’s attack. The Mirror reports: Moscow publicly opened the black box, a step it hopes will help confirm its claim that the jet did not stray into Turkish air space and was maliciously downed. The November 24 incident prompted Russia to impose retaliatory economic sanctions on Turkey. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly accused Ankara of “stabbing Russia in the bac...more »

Guess what? We’ve got more cases of fraudulent peer review to report — our second post of the day on the subject, in fact. In the latest news, Hindawi Publishing Corporation has retracted 10 papers for “fraudulent review reports,” after an investigation of more than 30 papers that had been flagged this summer. The investigation found […] The post In more faked peer review news…10 papers pulled by Hindawi appeared first on Retraction Watch.

[image: Obama - 400] A story published by the New York Times late Thursday night caused some major media waves. The story, which was written by reporters Peter Baker and Gardiner Harris, included a remarkable admission by Obama about his response to the recent... Continue reading *“The New York Times Just Memory-Holed This Devastating Obama Admission”* at *thefederalist.com*.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, August 21, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas *Dan De Luce, Foreign Policy*: *Hagel: The White House Tried to ‘Destroy’ Me* *In an exclusive interview, Chuck Hagel said the Obama administration micromanaged the Pentagon, stabbed him in the back on the way out -- and still has no strategy for fixing Syria.* Jet-lagged from a long overseas trip, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel had just sat down with his wife for a quiet dinner at an upscale Italian restaurant in northern Virginia when hi...more »

*Greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants* *by Gaius Publius* It's amazing what can be done by a government determined to do it. In the U.S., our approach to the climate crisis is to use the "invisible hand" of the market and be careful not to get in the way of "wealth creation" (for billionaires). The Chinese don't have those constraints. Yes, they want to make their billionaires wealthier, but that's not their primary goal. There's a very nationalist strain in China, and to a greater extent, I think, than in the U.S., the Chinese government wants what's best for China, a...more »

By Paul Homewood http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/huge-change-facing-property-world-as-gas-looks-set-to-be-phased-out/ The property world looks set to be facing an enormous upheaval following the climate change deal in Paris which could see the end of cooking and heating with gas in the UK. Gas hobs, cookers, fires and boilers could all be phased out within 15 years, with households dumping […]

The closure today of the UK's last deep coal mine has received considerable coverage from the BBC today. I noted down part of BBC reporter Dan Johnson's report for *BBC Breakfast* that reflected a concern I've written about before here: *Dan Johnson*: Kellingley was one of the news 1960s pits offering a bright future: *Contemporary news report*: The coal from Kellingley will flow like a black river for the rest of this century and beyond. *Dan Johnson**:* But job cuts and closures led to the year-long Miners' Strike. After that came a slow, painful decline. That's the kind of...more »

[image: Paul Ryan2 - 900] WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate has given sweeping approval to a year-end budget package that boosts federal agency spending and awards tax cuts to both families and an array of business interests. The 65-33 vote sent President Barack Obama a...more »

I was intrigued by a comment over at *Biased BBC *about Anne McElvoy's just-completed series about British liberalism on Radio 4, *British Liberalism: The Grand Tour*: Thoughtful December 18, 2015 at 2:00 pm http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06s1b8w The Limits of Liberalism Radio 4 Some appalling lies being told about the Rushdie book burning by Fascist Muslims. It is difficult to hear the denial of reality & rewriting of history by those lefties such as Anne McElvoy. It did not come as a surprise though to hear that some of the Fascist (Il)liberals actually wanted Rushdies book bann...more »

*RT*: *Sneak peek: A look at Russian air shield in Syria, including guided S-300 missile cruiser and S-400* The Russian Defense Ministry invited journalists to the guided missile cruiser Moskva deployed to Syria’s port of Latakia and demonstrated the advanced S-400 surface-to-air missiles stationed at a Russian Khmeimim airbase near the city. Both the S-400 and the cruiser are protecting the Russian base, from which Russian warplanes fly anti-terrorist missions in Syria, from a possible aerial attack. They were deployed in response to the downing of a Russian bomber by Turkish fi...more »

As everyone else is posting it, and it *is *deliciously funny - and, for once, gave David Dimbleby a red face - here's *that *exchange on last night's *Question Time*: And while I'm posting *YouTube* videos of embarrassing moments this week for BBC presenters, here's Evan Davis's encounter with Ann Coulter. The social media reaction was intriguing and fell into several camps. Those on the right fell into two groups. The first group argued essentially that Evan Davis had been pushing all manner of stupid, PC questions at Miss Coulter and that she, in turn, had effortlessly and r...more »

[image: Dr. Hawkins - 400] On December 15, Wheaton College, an Evangelical school in suburban Chicago, placed one of its tenured political science faculty members on administrative leave. The school's official press release states that the college placed Dr. Larcyia Hawkins on leave "in response... Continue reading *“Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God? It’s a Complicated Question”* at *thecatholicthing.org*.

*FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015Part 5—What Lawrence and Reverend Al said:* We emerged from last week's Scalia Wars with a basic question. Why is the freshman class at Texas only 4% black? Even with the university trying to increase black enrollment, why is the number that low? There's a related question concerning Hispanic enrollment, of course. For reasons no one ever explains, this entire discussion is conducted in the context of black enrollment, even though the state of Texas has tons more Hispanic kids. If we might quote the state itself: "In 2013-14, Hispanic students accounted...more »

*New York Times*: *World Powers, Meeting in New York, to Address Syrian War and ISIS* UNITED NATIONS — Diplomats from more than a dozen countries met at the Palace Hotel in New York on Friday morning to discuss ending the Syrian civil war and focusing the world’s attention on the threat of the Islamic State. But it remained unclear whether the major powers could put aside their rivalries and fulfill a key goal — a United Nations Security Council resolution endorsing a plan for resolving the conflict. At issue is whether the world powers that all have large stakes in the war can ...more »

[image: outbound] The movement to raise the federal minimum wage has become ever more ambitious. In 2013 proponents deemed $9 an hour acceptable; today the demand is for $15. Economists point to a crucial question: Will a higher minimum wage reduce the... Continue reading *“The Evidence Is Piling Up That Higher Minimum Wages Kill Jobs”* at *google.com*.

*USA Today:* *U.N. Security Council to meet on Syria's civil war* Delegates from across the world gathered in New York on Friday to discuss a solution to Syria's civil war. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is hosting a meeting of envoys from 20 countries in the International Syria Support Group to seek a cease-fire and the start of negotiations for peace talks between forces loyal to the Syrian government and rebels, ideally by Jan. 1. The meeting is also seeking ways to intensify the fight against the Islamic State, which holds large swaths of the country and has greatly exacer...more »

The head of Iraq’s Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee has claimed that more than 30 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 20 others injured in an airstrike carried out by the US military. “30 Iraqi servicemen from the 55th brigade of the Iraqi Army have been killed and 20 injured after an airstrike carried out by US aviation in the town of Al-Naimiya, Fallujah province,” Hakim al-Zamili said in a statement cited by Sputnik news. Sputnik reports: The politician stated that he demanded “the [Iraqi] prime minister to conduct an investigation into the airstrike against the 55 brigade...more »

Photos posted on Facebook claim to show US troops getting back on their plane shortly after landing *BBC:* *Libya militia chases away US troops* US forces flown to Libya to support government troops had to leave after landing because of demands from a local militia group, US officials say. It follows reports that 20 US special forces troops, equipped with advanced weaponry, landed on Monday at an airbase in western Libya. The troops chose to leave "in an effort to avoid conflict", a US Africa Command (Africom) spokesman told the BBC. Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 overthro...more »

'German spies cooperating with Assad,' Bild reports https://t.co/7TWlZ6cTkp pic.twitter.com/oFB5HEAlNr — dwnews (@dwnews) December 18, 2015 *DW:* *'German spies cooperating with Assad,' Bild reports* Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND, has begun cooperating with the Syrian secret police, a German paper has said. The two agencies reportedly share intelligence on Islamist extremists. he German Intelligence Service (BND) did not immediately comment on Friday's 'Bild' article, which came as Berlin and other Western governments shun official cooperation with Syrian Presid...more »

[image: Mayor suing over Christmas lights] Fox News' Jesse Watters visited the city of Plantation, Florida, where officials are suing a generous family who turns their home into a must-see light extravaganza for the community each year. The spectacle, complete with hand-made lights and a life-sized carousel... Continue reading *“Florida Mayor Sues Family over Christmas Lights”* at *mediaite.com*.

[image: GTY_trump_putin_jef_151217_12x5_1600] Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seems to have a new fan in his corner -- Vladimir Putin — and the real estate mogul thinks it was a “great honor” to get compliments from the Russian leader. Speaking to ABC News... Continue reading *“Trump Says ‘Great Honor’ to Get Compliments from ‘Highly Respected’ Putin”* at *abcnews.go.com*.

[image: Paul Ryan - 400] The House on Friday overwhelmingly approved a $1.1 trillion spending package that includes the first major change approved by Congress to ObamaCare, and keeps the government open through September 2016. Lawmakers backed the package following a furious effort by Speaker... Continue reading *“House Easily Approves $1.1T Funding Bill, 316-113”* at *thehill.com*.

KJ, Chris and Fee discuss the Sports Direct "gulag"... SOURCE GUARDIAN: A day at 'the gulag' - what it's like to work at Sports Direct's warehouse Warehouse staff at the group, the booming retail chain controlled by the billionaire Mike Ashley, are required to go through searches at the end of each shift, for which their time is unpaid, while they also suffer harsh deductions from their wage

*“You Want War? Russia is Ready for War”* by Pepe Escobar “Nobody needs to read Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski’s 1997 opus to know US foreign policy revolves around one single overarching theme: prevent– by all means necessary– the emergence of a power, or powers, capable of constraining Washington’s unilateral swagger, not only in Eurasia but across the world. The Pentagon carries the same message embedded in newspeak: the Full Spectrum Dominance doctrine. Syria is leading all these assumptions to collapse like a house of cards. So no wonder in a Beltway under no visible c...more »

[image: Donald Trump] No matter how much you dislike Donald Trump and his effect on the Republican presidential primary race -- and there are many, many good reasons to do so -- you have to spare a little grudging admiration for the sheer... Continue reading *“Military Strategist Explains Why Donald Trump Leads — And How He Will Fail”* at *thefederalist.com*.

*Independent.ie:* *Yemeni rebels halt Swiss peace talks over ceasefire violations* Yemeni peace talks in Switzerland have been halted indefinitely after the country's Shiite Houthi rebel delegation suspended all meetings with the internationally recognised government in protest at their ceasefire violations. The Houthis said they would not resume talks unless the UN condemned government breaches of the week-long truce. Houthi fighters have also ignored the ceasefire agreement. *More News On Yemen's Peace Talks Being Suspended* Yemeni rebels halt Swiss peace talks as cease-fire b...more »

[image: Pope Francis] For the English-speaking world, the Ordinary Synod on the Family just came to a formal end, two months after its actual end, with the release of its final report in our native tongue. (This is the final report of the Synod... Continue reading *“The Synod’s Final Report Is Out in English, and It’s Remarkably Strong”* at *ncregister.com*.

[image: Baby Jesus, Nativity, Christianity, Manger, Shepherds, Christmas] The doctrine of the Incarnation, at least at my church, is easy to remember. It is literally carved in marble: "In the beginning was the Word. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." That's the whole thing in a...more »

[image: Migrants] Europe has seen almost a million refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach its shores so far this year, the United Nations said Friday, with 2015 likely to be the worst year ever for forced global displacements. The U.N.... Continue reading *“U.N. Says Europe Has Taken Nearly a Million Migrants This Year”* at *google.com*.

[image: Bernie Sanders] Bernie Sanders has spent the equivalent of three full weeks less than Hillary Clinton on the campaign and fundraising trail since late September, baffling progressive Democrats who are anxious to see a livelier presidential primary contest. The Vermont senator has... Continue reading *“Hillary Clinton Is Out-Hustling Bernie Sanders on the Campaign Trail”* at *politico.com*.

*BBC:* *Global refugees and displaced to hit record, UN says* The number of forcibly displaced people worldwide will "far surpass" a record 60 million this year, the UN says. The report by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said "one in every 122 humans is today someone who has been forced to flee their homes". The figure includes 20.2 million refugees, the highest total since 1992, the UNHCR added. The numbers were mainly driven by the Syrian war, conflict in Ukraine and other protracted conflicts, it said. *Update #1:* United Nations: world's refugees and displaced have ...more »

*CNN:* *Israel and Turkey to restore ties, Israeli officials say* (CNN)Israel and Turkey have reached an agreement to normalize relations, unnamed Israeli officials said Thursday. The deal ends five years of enmity between two key Middle East nations after an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010 that killed eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin. There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials. Anadolu Agency, the semiofficial news source in Turkey, quoted diplomatic sources as saying talks were continuing. As part of the framework agreement, Isr...more »

U.S. coalition warplanes in Syrian airspace after conducting air strikes against ISIS militants. (File photo: Reuters) *Washington Free Beacon:* *U.S. Continues to Limit Airstrikes Against ISIS Camps* *Only 20 camps struck since May.* President Obama said for the first time this week that U.S. and allied airstrikes are targeting ISIS training camps in Iraq and Syria, but new figures reveal only 20 camps were hit in recent months. Since May, U.S. and allied air forces conducted 17 attacks hitting a total of 20 camps in Syria and Iraq, according to the U.S. military command in Iraq...more »

*-by Noah* What better example of the 2015 republican state of mind could I use to begin my 2015 review of Republican World than the classic, all too typical, paranoid Republican fantasy of Jade Helm 15? It wasn’t enough when the denizens of Republican World convinced themselves that they better vote against Obama, not just because he’s one of "those people" but because he was going to "take away our guns." Well, two elections came and went, and no guns were confiscated. No tanks pulled up to suburban homes and pried away any iron from any cold, dead, hands. Perhaps the Republic...more »

*"Weekly News Wrap-Up, 12/18/2015"* By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com "The Fed finally did it. It raised a key short term rate by a quarter of a point. That is not the real story. The real story is how the non-functioning mainstream press swallowed the economic recovery story hook, line and sinker. Fed Head Janet Yellen boasted “The economic recovery has come a long way.” Not a single reporter brought up new data that the Baltic Dry Index (released just a few days earlier) had hit record lows clearly signaling a downward spiraling global economy. What we just got was a real rate hike...more »

[image: Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks during the CNN Republican presidential debate on December 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.] Jeb Bush refused to answer a question over whether he'd support Donald Trump against Hillary Clinton for the presidency in an appearance on CNN Thursday night, lending further support to claims he is backing out of a pledge to back...more »

[image: Republican National Convention 2012] Politicians don't need face-to-face meetings to make deals anymore. All around the political blogosphere you can find folks smacking their lips over the prospect of a "brokered" Republican national convention. They look forward to the spectacle of delegates assembling in... Continue reading *“No, There Won’t Be a Brokered Republican National Convention”* at *nationalreview.com*.

[image: Mayor Mitch Landrieu] The New Orleans City Council has voted to remove Confederate monuments along its most trafficked streets to distance itself from the past. The city will remove four monuments, including a 131-year-old landmark statue of Robert E. Lee, after a 6-1... Continue reading *“New Orleans Votes to Remove Confederate Monuments”* at *dailycallernewsfoundation.org*.

[image: CNN GOP Debate, 2016 Republican Presidential Candidates] I don't want to offend the 1,436 individuals who are running for president right now, but I have to be honest: I've long suspected that people who run for president are at least a tiny bit insane. The wisest people on...more »

[image: Star Wars security] EXCLUSIVE: With a rush of holiday moviegoers and following some suspicious activity outside theaters in at least two U.S. cities -- one last week in Southern California and another in Arizona last night -- exhibitors across the nation have "doubled" workforce... Continue reading *“Star Wars Theaters Tighten Security Due to Heavy Crowds and Suspicious Activity”* at *deadline.com*.

[image: G.O.P] A long time ago, in the era we now know as B.T. (Before Trump), it was possible to envision a Republican primary campaign that would be a real contest of ideas, a clash of genuine policy visions -- and therefore... Continue reading *“The GOP at a Crossroads”* at *nytimes.com*.

John Coleman, who co-founded the Weather Channel, exposes the global warming lie. Coleman says he has studied climate change seriously for years and it has become a political and environment agenda item which uses science that is not valid. In the video below, Coleman explains how the global warming scare began KUSI news reports: A great scientist named Roger Revelle had Al Gore in his class at Harvard and the Global Warming campaign was born. Revelle tried to calm things down years later, but Gore said Revelle was Senile and refused to debate. John Coleman documents the entire sto...more »

Beijing has issued its second red alert for smog this month in an effort to protect its citizens against poisonous gases and pollutant particles. The high levels of air pollution in the Chinese capital prompted schools to close and authorities to enforce vehicle restrictions on Friday. Earlier in December the highest possible state of alert was declared in the city, which has over 21 million residents, for the first time ever. Press TV reports: A wave of smog is due to settle over the city of about 22.5 million people from Saturday to Tuesday. Levels of PM2.5, the smallest and deadl...more »

RINF, CounterPunch, Countercurrents, Global Research Sir Richard John Roberts is a biochemist and molecular biologist and currently works at New England Biolabs in the US. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society in the UK and has recently been in India promoting GM crops and food. While in Mysore, he delivered a talk on ‘A Crime Against Humanity’ organised by the University of Mysore. He said that when people were hungry, they needed food but rich European countries are opposing introduction of GM crops because they have sufficient food. Roberts went on to say that their propagan...more »

http://www.macleans.ca/ The prosecution and defence have finished the heavy stuff. All that's left for them to do is the closing arguments. So what have we learned from the Duffy trial? Michael Harris writes: Lots of public figures are symbolically burned in public. But not many are hoisted in effigy in the nation’s capital as money-grubbing scoundrels floating high above the Ottawa River like evil genies. Not many are denounced by their own boss and his stooges before their day in court. Not many face guilt by editorial before th...more »

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through Times Square, they finally stopped joking 'bout Bernie's wild hair. And much to my wondering eyes did appear a headline, above the* New York Times* homepage fold, containing the name of Bernie Sanders! But wait. The article didn't mention Bernie's record two million donors, or his two major union endorsements until the very end, as a kind of afterthought. Rather, it gleefully spread the news that one of his campaign's workers had "breached" a voter database belonging to President-designate Hillary Clinton. The only thing shocking about...more »

[image: Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister] UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- There “seems to be no agreement” on two key issues just hours before the latest international conference on Syria is held Friday in New York, Iran’s foreign minister said. Mohammad Javad Zarif told The Associated Press...more »

A new report reveals that mass surveillance programs initiated under former prime minister Tony Blair have been gathering private data in bulk for over a decade, according to leaks by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden The report also alleges that the program has a specialist internet and phone tapping center at MI5’s London HQ under the code-name PRESTON. Press TV reports: The National Technical Assistance Centre, a shadowy intelligence cell, was set up by Tony Blair’s Labour government in 1999 to counter encryption and act as the UK’s code-breaking specialist, the report said. The re...more »

A week ago, U.S. Justice Scalia has expressed his negative opinion about affirmative action in general and its impact on the blacks in physics classes in particular: "There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a less – a slower-track school where they do well," Scalia said, according to the transcript. "One of the briefs pointed out that most of the black scientists in this country don't come from schools like the University of Texas...more »

Nature Publishing Group is retracting three papers today, after an investigation found evidence the peer-review process had been compromised. The publisher issued a statement saying they had notified corresponding authors and institutions associated with the three papers, which were all published last year in the journals Cancer Gene Therapy and Spinal Cord. Here’s the note that’s going […] The post “Compromised” peer review hits three papers from Nature Publishing Group appeared first on Retraction Watch.

[image: Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Kyiv, Ukraine.] WASHINGTON (AP) -- As the United States and world powers gather again in a bid to end Syria’s civil war, Russia appears to be calling the shots. Nations meeting Friday in New York and the U.N. will essentially be negotiating...more »

[image: Mother Teresa (L) gives her blessing to a child at the Gift of Love Home on October 20, 1993, in Singapore.] VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis has signed off on the miracle needed to make Mother Teresa a saint, giving the nun who cared for the poorest of the poor one of the Catholic Church’s highest honors just two decades...more »

[image: evangelical insiders] WASHINGTON--An increasing number of evangelical insiders are coalescing their support around Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas as angst grows over a possible Donald Trump nomination for president. Those are among the findings in WORLD's... Continue reading *“Evangelical Insiders Coalesce Around Rubio, Cruz”* at *worldmag.com*.

[image: SIMI VALLEY, CA - SEPTEMBER 16: Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz take part in the presidential debates at the Reagan Library on September 16, 2015 in Simi Valley, California. Fifteen Republican presidential candidates are participating in the second set of Republican presidential debates.] MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) -- More than any other issue, immigration is driving the rivalry between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, presidential rivals focusing on the divisive topic in their closing messages to Republican voters before the sprint to the Iowa...more »

Our friend and colleague *Alfonso Salazar* posted the following to his Facebook page: "*UFOs OVER MEXICO CITY*. This afternoon (December 16, 2015) as of 1 in the afternoon a fleet of approximately 100 unidentified objects was seen from the Mixcoac area. According to Alfonso Flores, these objects were visible over Mexico City from the city's International Airport, where personnel engaged in maintenance duties saw a formation of around 20 object flying in a "V" configuration. This was witnessed by around 30 technicians and airport staff around 3 in the afternoon. Subsequently, at 5:3...more »

[image: Baby Jesus, Nativity, Christianity, Manger, Shepherds, Christmas] DIANE SCHWIND -- Today's Gospel: Matthew 1:1-17 Our family attended a Maronite Rite Catholic church for many years as our children were growing up. I remember the first time today's gospel was the reading of the day, looking forward to our...more »

https://youtu.be/F8wKRg-1e6s How lovely to see the sanctimonious David Dimbleby try to point out that Jacob Rees Mogg went to Eton, via a textbook playing of the Labour you're a toff card, only to have his snideness blow up in his face. Absolutely delicious!

The annual roll call of top tweeting comment types has been baiting clicks since 2009, and is probably the only reason why most of you turn up here, like clockwork, at this time of year. I don't mind - honest! Time to remind readers the rules governing this ludicrous exercise. All below *regularly* provide comment on UK political affairs via the written word, the telly, the radio, YouTube and what have you. Please note this *doesn't* include MPs and other prominent politicians, or people who use Twitter exclusively because, let's be honest, anyone can purchase zombie followers and ...more »

I found this comment on Biasedbbc.org 'If, as they claim, all British muslims are true believers in the religion of peace, Islamthen then the only answer to the question " Will bombing ISIS, perverters of Islam, radicalise British muslims?"" must be NO! If someone is defiling the ideals you hold dear, and you are a peaceful soul, then you might be tempted to use violence against those doing the defiling, but not against those attacking the defilers. Where are all the "Muslim International Brigades" off to destroy ISIS?' That's a fair point, isn't it?

*CNN*: *ISIS goes global: Mapping 50 attacks in 18 countries that killed 1,100 people* (CNN)When a married couple killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, they committed the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001. The assault also underscored an unsettling reality: ISIS has morphed from a scourge affecting Iraq and Syria to a threat to people around the world. Since declaring its caliphate in June 2014, the self-proclaimed Islamic State has conducted or inspired at least 50 terrorist attacks in 18 countries that have killed 1,100 people and injure...more »

*December 18, 2015* (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Myanmar held elections early November as the capstone of a wider range of "reforms" it has undertaken as an apparent means of escaping decades of sanctions leveled against it by the West. Predictably, the National League of Democracy (NLD) headed by the Western vaunted, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was declared the winner in a "landslide" by Western papers even before the official count was revealed. Western headlines hailed the election results as "historic" with the BBC in its article, "Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi: NLD...more »

'A total of 641,000 people moved to the UK in 2014, the Office for National Statistics said.' The BBC headline might be 'Immigration cap having counter-productive effect, MPs say' and the figure quoted might be the NET immigration figure of 300k+ but for me the more important facts are that immigration hit 641,000 and thus that approximately 300,000 Brits left the UK. Doesn't that sound like population replacement on a massive scale to you? To put that 641,000 figure in context, that's more than the population of Bristol which is the UK's fifth largest city. Here's that BBC r...more »

Have you seen as many Christmas villages in a jar as I have this year? I think they are absolutely darling and I wanted to make a fun one with my daughter this year. It started out as a normal craft project, but like it normally does, the geek was too strong and took over. I present the Doctor Who Christmas Jar. You will need: - a small apothecary jar - small metal house - glitter snow - small fake trees - a Tardis pen like this one My 7-year-old had a blast making this with me. Dump in the snow, add the house and trees. Pull the pen part out of the pen and then un...more »

[image: Marines on Beach-900] U.S. Marines conduct beach training operations at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on Dec. 5, 2015. Please keep those serving in the military, both at home and abroad, in your prayers this weekend!

*Photo:* Staff Sergeant William Bee, without wearing a helmet or Kevlar vest, aims at a window from where he feared a Taliban sniper was positioned. Seconds later his world was plunged into darkness. The sequence of images taken in Garmsir, Afghanistan, on May 18, 2008, would become one of the most iconic from the War on Terror *Daily Mail*: *EXCLUSIVE: It's an iconic image from the War on Terror - but the heroic Marine captured fighting the Taliban without his helmet now has flashbacks, violent outbursts and even tried to kill himself... so why won't the VA give him the help he n...more »

The sun rises on June 6 over Camp Delta detention compound, which has housed foreign prisoners since 2002, at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba. (Brennan Linsley/AFP/Getty) *New York Times*: *Transfers Could Reduce Guantánamo Detainees to 90* WASHINGTON — The Obama administration appears to be on the cusp of the largest round of transfers of Guantánamo Bay detainees in a single month since 2007, a move that could reduce the detainee population there to as low as 90 by mid- to late January, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations. Defense Secretary Asht...more »

*The Hill*: *Trump calls 'highly respected' Putin's comments a 'great honor'* Donald Trump said on Thursday it was a “great honor” to be complimented by “highly respected” Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond,” the GOP presidential front-runner told supporters at a rally in Columbus, Ohio. “I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and a...more »

*By Noah Introduction: Being A Republican Is A Choice.* What is Republican World? It’s not an amusement park. We are definitely not amused. No, Republican World is a hideous freakshow that half of the country’s population has chosen as a lifestyle. It’s a lot more than the insanity of Trump, Carson, Cruz, Rubio, Bush, Fiorina, Huckster and the rest of the party’s bizarre collection of miscreants running to be the party’s nominee for president. It’s an alternate universe of the mind that still, somehow, enables them to exist in the same time-space continuum as the world that norm...more »

Source: Lockheed Martin. *Martin Matishak, Fiscal Times*: *Congress Showers the F-35 Program with Cash* The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a big winner in the newly-minted $1.1 trillion government spending bill. The Obama administration requested about $11 billion in fiscal 2016 to buy 57 planes, up from the 44 manufacturer Lockheed Martin is building this year. The sweeping funding bill, which could pass both chambers of Congress as soon as Friday, includes an additional $1.3 billion so the Pentagon can buy an additional 11 fighters, for a total of 68 in 2016. That’s quite a vote...more »

Suppose that The Force in the Star Wars films really does exist, Jedi’s who can perform superhuman feats are real, and advance technology that can explore the far outskirts of the galaxy is easily within our grasp. Author, Jon Rappoport, claims that all of these themes in the Star Wars films ring true with their audiences because deep within our subconscious we know them to be fundementally true. Rappoport suggest that advance technology and paranormal ability is innate among us and that we have been suppressed so that we forget what we are truely capable of. Zengardner.com reports: ...more »

Hundreds of terrorists poised as immigrants and armed with hammers and iron bars stormed the Channel Tunnel entrance in Calais on Thursday, in an attempt to enter the UK. French residents in the area took to social media to report the illegal immigrants attacking the tunnel, as French riot police were deployed to tackle the terrorists. Hammer attack on lorry drivers by immigrants in Calais pic.twitter.com/SSaEUwNRR3 — Robert Carlisle (@RobertCarlisl10) December 17, 2015 The Sun reports: Locals in the “Angry Calaisiens” group, which is campaigning to restore order in the besieged tow...more »

Vietnam’s army is on high alert for a potential military conflict with China, as Hanoi conducts its biggest build up of arms since the the Vietnam War. As tensions reach a critical boiling point over the disputed South China Sea, Vietnam is preparing to defend itself in the outbreak of war with China. Yahoo News reports: Vietnam’s strategy has moved beyond contingency planning. Key units have been placed on “high combat readiness” – an alert posture to fend off a sudden attack – including its elite Division 308, which guards the mountainous north. The two countries fought a bloody ...more »

Secret FBI files on Michael Jackson containing over 1000 pages, allegedly detail the sexual abuse of Home Alone actor Macaulay Culkin when he was just a kid. Despite Macaulay Culkin’s courtroom denials, this new evidence points strongly to him being one of MJ’s many victims. Culkin’s desire to deny being molested by Jackson is easy to understand and totally forgivable. Could this victimization by the monster have been what led to Culkin’s eventual drug abuse and addiction? Documents describe how the Thriller hit-maker was once caught by a member of his household staff “groping a w...more »

Israel have said that there is a strong likelihood that they will be targeted by ISIS in 2016. According to Israeli intelligence, the successful Russian defeat of ISIS in Syria has sparked a mass exodus of militants that could lead the terrorist organisation to attack neighbouring Israel. Israelnationalnews.com reports: “We have been very fortunate until now,” a source said, “but it looks like ISIS is preparing to find other venues, and the most logical one is here.” Recorded ISIS threats against the West have included Israel at times. Just last week, an Israeli court indicted five...more »

A report from the Kremlin on Thursday says that President Obama has ordered a “strategic withdrawal” of American troops fighting ISIS in the Levant War Zone, admitting that Russia are leading the way in their fight against terrorism in the region. In a meeting with Putin, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and Foreign Secretary Lavrov, Russia told America that the threat of a nuclear war between the US and Russia was a very real possibility due to the continued support of ISIS by the U.S. Whatdoesitmean.com reports: After presenting to Secretary Kerry the Federations entire portfoli...more »

Donald Trump has heaped praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that he is “highly respected” and an “outstanding” human-being. The praise follows Putin’s announcement that he hopes that Trump gets elected to President in the 2016 race. Upon hearing the news, Trump responded by saying, “I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect”. Presstv.com reports: Trump continues to sustain his lead...more »

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he hopes Donald Trump becomes the next President of the United States. At an annual news conference on Thursday, Putin said that Moscow is ready to develop relations with Washington with whoever wins the 2016 race, but said he hopes that Trump gets elected due to the fact he’s a bright and talented person. Tass.ru reports: Putin said the latest visit to Moscow of US Secretary of State John Kerry this week showed that “in general the US side is also ready to move towards a joint solution to those issues that can be solved only jointly.” ...more »

Fukushima radiation just off the North American coast is higher now than it has ever been, and government scientists and mainstream press are scrambling to cover-up and downplay the ever-increasing deadly threat that looms for millions of Americans. Following the March 2011 meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, reactors have sprayed immeasurable amounts of radioactive material into the air, most of which settled into the Pacific Ocean. A study by the American Geophysical Union has found that radiation levels from Alaska to California have increased and continue...more »

Tensions between Turkey and Russia have reached boiling point on Thursday as Vladimir Putin threatened to down any Turkish aircraft that dare to fly over Syrian airspace. In a defiant and bold speech to reporters, Putin said that relations with Turkey are now beyond repair due to their deliberate downing of the Russian bomber. He declared Syria a no-fly zone for all Turkish military aircraft. “Turkey used to violate Syrian airspace all the time,” Putin told reporters. “Let them try and fly there now” that Russia’s most advanced air-defense system covers the whole country, he warned. ...more »

Three documents were leaked on Thursday that conclusively show a senior CIA spy was involved in the setting up of ISIS and Al-qaeda. The spy even bragged about it on his public LinkedIn page, saying that he was responsible for “executing one of the Agency’s most successful counterterrorism covert action operations while leading a CIA Base in an exceptionally dangerous, high stress war zone environment.” Zerohedge.com reports: Thanks to the resurrection of “J Pierpont Morgan”, these doubts and questions are no longer reasonable. They are, in fact, irrelevant. Because J Pierpont Mor...more »

Syrian civilians who volunteered to join local Self Protection Units to protect their neighborhoods alongside the Syrian army attend training near a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his father, the late former president Hafez al-Assad, near Damascus on Dec. 5. (Omar Sanadiki/Reuters) *Washington Post:* *The Syrian military has thousands of deserters. New research tells us why they left* The recent series of attacks by the Islamic State in the Sinai, Beirut and Paris could well be a game changer in how the international community deals with the Syrian conflict. And y...more »

I haven't look at TV in years. So I bought a set some months ago. Now, I spend every supper flicking . through some 300 channels to find something – almost anything. Professional wrestling has become unspeakably corny. It's been fake since the 1920s, but never so obviously fake and absurd as it is now. And it must take a person of very low intelligence to watch “martial arts” which consists of tripping somebody, and then pounding his face into the canvas. Then there's dart-throwing and poker and, unbelievably, there are people who watch bingo on TV. The news is not much better. TV i...more »

*Part of a continuing series* looking at the pagan origins of the Christmas Myths, one day at a time. Today: the story of lonely shepherds, and what a flock of angels does to them late at night …* So there you are, out abiding in your fields and minding your own sheep flock’s business –a shepherd watching your flock by night—and all of a sudden this old angel shows up, and then another, and then another—until out there in your back paddock you’ve pretty much got the whole Heavenly Host flying about just above the campfire. And then they all start singing--and pretty bloody angel...more »

Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted that the Russian military have a presence in east Ukraine. When asked by a Ukrainian reporter about two Russian military intelligence officers captured in Ukraine, Putin admitted for the first time that there was indeed a Russian presence in the country. “We never said there were not people there who carried out certain tasks including in the military sphere,” he told the reporter, but insisted they were not the same as regular military troops. Theguardian.com reports: There was no opportunity for a follow-up question to examine how many...more »

Britain could face legal action over a failure to halt its arms exports to Saudi Arabia, lawyers for Campaign Against the Arms Trade have said. The law firm representing the campaign group, Leigh Day, said they are considering legal action against the British government in order to force it to suspend all weapons exports to Saudi Arabia. Independent.co.uk reports: The United Nations said Saudi Arabia is breaching international law in its on-going war in Yemen and lawyers contend that it is unlawful for Britain to continue weapons export to the country if they are being used for atr...more »

Today's decision in R. *v.* Lacasse, 2015 SCC 64 is extremely important in terms of sentencing. Among many other points it clarifies when deterrence and denunciation apply most: 73] While it is true that the objectives of deterrence and denunciation apply in most cases, they are particularly relevant to offences that might be committed by ordinarily law‑abiding people. It is such people, more than chronic offenders, who will be sensitive to harsh sentences. Of the Law Societies of Upper Canada and Nunavut

[image: Fr. Rutler - 400] There are many books about the Second World War, perhaps too many. Each year, a new batch descends upon a public that still appears to have an endless fascination with that conflict. Nevertheless, Fr. George Rutler's Principalities and Powers: Spiritual... Continue reading *“World War II as Spiritual Warfare”* at *catholicexchange.com*.

[image: Michael Moore] Michael Moore stood in front of Trump Tower in New York City holding a sign declaring, "We are all Muslim," in the wake of Donald Trump's controversial proposal to temporarily halt Muslim immigrants from entering the country. Continue reading *“Michael Moore Holds ‘We Are All Muslim’ Sign in Front of Trump Tower”* at *washingtontimes.com*.

*Bloomberg*: *Niger Arrests Officers Plotting Coup Ahead of February Election* * Senior military officials had worked on plan for weeks * Accused wanted to use air force to seize power: president Niger arrested senior military officers planning to use the nation’s air force to topple the government ahead of February’s presidential election, President Mahamadou Issoufou said. The officers had been plotting for weeks, Issoufou, 63, said in a speech broadcast on state television. The president is seeking re-election next year, with the first round of voting scheduled for Feb. 21. Nige...more »

It seems inconceivable to me that we-- we, like in American progressives-- still haven't succeeded in persuading out fellow Democrats that there is a non-business-as-usual candidate running for president against a much better-known-- and much disliked-- establishment candidate. Bernie is the best candidate for president in my lifetime. Hillary, aside from being a woman, is just more of the same the insiders are always shoving down our throats. This week's NBC*Wall Street Journal* national horserace poll shows that most Democrats count themselves as Hillary voters. Her polling is n...more »

[image: Don Carey - 400] Detroit Lions defensive back Don Carey, a Christian, argued Muslims need a reformation much like Christians prior to the Protestant Reformation. While much of the country has been debating if Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump was wrong to suggest Muslims... Continue reading *“Christian NFL Player Don Carey Says Muslims Need a Reformation”* at *christianpost.com*.

[image: Washington Post] A Washington Post editorial on Thursday accused the leading Republican presidential candidates, along with their supporters, of engaging in “bigotry” and “hatred” against Muslims and immigrants, following this week’s GOP debate. Continue reading *“Washington Post: ‘Bigotry, Hatred’ Are ‘New Normal’ for GOP”* at *washingtonexaminer.com*.

[image: U.S. President Barack Obama during a presidential portrait sitting for an official photograph in the Oval Office on 6 December 2012.] WASHINGTON -- Last Saturday, Barack Obama gained the second jewel in his foreign policy triple crown: the Paris climate accord. It follows his Iran nuclear deal and awaits but the closing of Guantanamo to complete his glittering legacy. To be...more »

[image: NOAA thermometer, Maximum/Minimum Temperature Sensors, MMTS] The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's reliance on poorly sited weather stations to calculate surface temperatures is inflating the warming trend of the U.S. and maybe even the rest of the world, according to a landmark study looking at three...more »

I have been busy as it is the Christmas season and I have been spending time helping out friends and taking care of family business.... Therefore articles at this blog will be far and few between for the next few days.... My apologies to everyone.... I will of course be doing my usual Sunday rant, and in my absence I do recommend that everyone take the time to read the fantastic articles and work by those who I call "The finest bloggers I know" as listed in the left hand column of this blog.... They are indeed true colleagues, friends, and real truth seekers.... I will be back... A...more »

For a number of years the US-controlled NATO alliance made sure that the Islamic State and Al Qaeda affiliated terrorists were well supplied in Syria via the Turkish border. Washington is now panicking that Putin’s air force has managed to break the ISIS supply line, making it more difficult for terrorist groups to get their convoys of food, weapons and other goods easily from across the border. ISIS is intergral to the West’s strategy for toppling president Assad of Syria. Russia Insider reports: For years, the US-directed NATO alliance has made sure that convoys full of food, weapo...more »

*Day 3 Thank you Ken Marchionno and the Future Generations Riders.* The Oomaka Tokatakiya is a nearly 300-mile memorial horseback ride across South Dakota in the United States. The ride starts on December 15th, at the site where the Lakota Indian Chief Sitting Bull was killed, and traces the trail taken by some of his tribe to join Chief Big Foot. It goes on to follow Big Foot's effort to reach Chief Red Cloud in Pine Ridge. And ends on the December 29th at the site where the Wounded Knee Massacre took hundreds of truly innocent lives in 1890. One hundred years after the mass...more »

[image: Dennis Hastert - 900] CHICAGO (AP) -- Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, awaiting sentencing in a hush-money case, has suffered a stroke and was admitted to a hospital the first week of November, his attorney said Thursday in a statement. Hastert also has...more »

*CNN*: *Obama: No 'specific and credible' holiday threat* Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama insisted Thursday that Americans should feel safe inside their own country, declaring the United States free from "specific and credible" threats to the homeland. Continuing a week-long push to underscore his command of national security dangers, Obama said he understood why unease has spread after attacks in France and California. But he sought to bolster the country's mettle ahead of a busy holiday travel season. "If you target Americans, you will have no safe haven," he said at the ...more »

“They might look like trees on Mars, but they're not. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. *Click image for larger size.* The above image was taken in 2008 April near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice. When occurring near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving dark surface streaks- streaks that might appear at first to be...more »

*The Economist*: *Islamic State’s finances - Degraded, not yet destroyed* *The self-styled caliphate’s income is taking a pounding* WHEN Islamic State burst out of Syria in June 2014, seizing Mosul, Iraq’s second city, and nearly reaching Baghdad, it became the richest terror organisation in history. It plundered the banks in Mosul, including the Central Bank, whose vaults contained an estimated $425m. It snaffled a pipeline network filled with 3m barrels of oil. Its self-declared caliphate included some of the best agricultural land in the Fertile Crescent, and the heavy industry...more »

*"The One And The Many"* by Chet Raymo "Near the end of Mary McCarthy's "The Company She Keeps," the protagonist- Meg Sargent, a stand-in for Mary- and her therapist steer away from talking at length about her childhood, "for it suggested... that the universe is mechanical, utterly predictable, frozen, and this in its own way is quite as terrible as the notion that the universe is chaotic." And there you have it, really, the balancing act each of us must maintain if we are to stay sane- call it, if I may use a physical metaphor, the liquid state, somewhere between the immobility o...more »

[image: Weapons used by Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik in the San Bernardino shootings.] LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The man who bought the assault rifles used by his friend in the San Bernardino massacre was charged Thursday with terrorism-related counts. The FBI arrested Enrique Marquez, 24, on charges of conspiring with Syed Rizwan Farook...more »

Saudi Arabia recently announced the formation of a coalition to fight all terrorist groups including Isis/Daesh. It is comprised of 34 mainly Sunni nations, to fight the militant Sunni Isis/Daesh faction terrorizing the Middle East right now. Pakistani columnist and political analyst Wajahat Masood finds it hard to see Saudi Arabia fighting a phenomenon that it helped to create and sustain over the last thirty years. According to Masood the definition of terror is different in the Saudi vocabulary. The kingdom sees terror subjectively. Sputnik News reports: On Tuesday, the Saudi Pre...more »

*"The Human Condition"* by Meanings of Life "Man remains largely unknown of himself. What are we, in our innermost recesses, behind our names and our conventional opinions? What are we behind the things we do in our lives, behind what we see in others and what others see in us, or even behind things science says we are? Is man the crazy being about whom Carl Gustav Jung spoke ironically, when he demanded a man to treat? Is man the Dr. Jerkyll that contains in himself a criminal Mister Hyde, and more than a personality, and contradictory feelings? Are we the result of our dreams, as...mor

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I've been 'around' for a few years now, pursuing the shifting goal of a sharable home-made surfers resource site focused on ease of use and variety of mostly adult ( whoa : I didn't say prurient ) content.